Nine years' jail ends a remarkable journey

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Jack Roche has become the first Australian convicted and jailed under anti-terrorism laws after a trial that placed him in the midst of a global conspiracy reaching to the pinnacle of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Roche's jail sentence brought to an end a remarkable journey that, in April 2000, included a journey to Afghanistan, where he was invited into a large prayer hall in Kandahar for a meal with 250 others.

"I started eating and then after a couple of mouthfuls I looked around. I thought, 'Oh, hello' - it was Osama bin Laden," he would later recall to Perth District Court.

"He was a very nice man. I would rather meet him than George Bush, I can tell you."

This would be Roche's only face-to-face encounter with the world's most wanted man, although he would go on to meet at least six more people from the FBI's most-wanted list as he plotted an attack on Australian soil.

The intended target was the Israeli embassy in Canberra. Roche initially pleaded not guilty to conspiring with senior al-Qaeda operatives including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, whom he knew as Mukhtar, and Mohammed Atef (Abu Hafs al-Masri), bin Laden's second in command, to blow up the embassy.

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But after two days of cross-examination last week, in which he laid bare the inner workings of al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah, he had apparently had enough. He changed his plea and was yesterday sentenced to nine years' jail.

Judge Paul Healy said the Muslim convert should serve 4years without parole, and backdated his sentence to his arrest in November 2002. He could be free by May 2007.

The judge said: "We now realise Australia cannot assume it is isolated from the rest of the world when it comes to matters of terrorism."

Prosecutors had sought the maximum 25 years' jail for Roche. The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said the sentencing was "seminal", because it showed terrorist acts were of the "utmost seriousness", but he would not comment on whether it was long enough to deter other would-be terrorists.

"My understanding is that we sought a longer period," he said. "The judge took into the account the co-operation that had been offered by Mr Roche. It is not unusual for courts to take those matters into account."

The Melbourne businessman and Jewish leader Joseph Gutnick, whom Roche and others at one stage planned to kill or kidnap for ransom, described the sentence as "pretty pathetic". "I think a lot of terrorists would look at that and laugh. They'd be pretty happy, I think, but I suppose the judge knows what he is doing."

During the trial it became clear Roche could have provided vital information on terrorist cells before the Bali bombings. But ASIO ignored them, as the Government has admitted.

Roche had the home and mobile phone number for Hambali, the Bali bombing mastermind, and also his email address. He had the address of a house in Karachi used by al-Qaeda operatives and the email address of Mukhtar.

After his meal with bin Laden, Roche did 10 days of explosives training before flying back to Perth with a plan to help al-Qaeda mount an attack in Australia.

This was a year before the September 11 attacks and two years before the Bali bombings. Terrorists who later planned and carried out those attacks gave him $11,500 in cash an hour before he boarded his aircraft in Kuala Lumpur.

They wanted Roche to help them launch an attack in Australia. Although they talked with him in bin Laden's camp in Kandahar about targeting aircraft from the US and Israel and killing Americans and Israelis in Australia, they settled on a plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra and kill or abduct Mr Gutnick.

The plot took Roche through Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He went to Indonesia, for a face-to-face meeting about the plot on summons from Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah said to have approved the Bali bombing.

Roche said during his trial he was essentially a reluctant terrorist. He appeared at times to be a bumbling one. In Canberra a security guard saw him videotaping the embassy. Roche said he was a tourist interested in architecture, to which the guard replied, "I didn't think you were going to bomb the joint or anything." But he logged the incident, including Roche's car registration number.

But for all that, including his alleged fears that JI and al-Qaeda were watching him to ensure he carried out the promised surveillance and that he might be killed if he did not, nobody was watching: not even ASIO, which he contacted several times in mid-2000 offering to reveal what was happening and suggesting he might work for it.

Outside court yesterday, Roche's lawyer, Hylton Quail, said his client was relieved it was over. But he said: "I don't think it's a low sentence . . . it's a very significant sentence. That's why I say there is still the issue to finalise about whether he's going to appeal in the next 21 days. No decision has been made."

Roche's wife, Afifah, said she, too, felt better. But she added: "I always support him. I am his wife."